Weekly Red Bull eSports Video Prepares For Battle Grounds Showdown

Red Bull released the latest version of their weekly eSports video series that covers the competitive nature of the electronic sports arena from their Training Grounds bouts leading up to the big dig at their Battle Grounds event in New York for a massive $50,000 payout to the winner.

The video is six minutes of recaps, as former eSports competitor David “Walshy” Walsh talks with the winner and the losers about their experience in the Training Grounds competition leading toward Battle Grounds.

Quite naturally, many gamers – who aren't die-hard, real-time strategy fans – have a tough time getting into the series given that the RTS genre is very niche. While the eSports competitions really help bring out the best and brightest in the RTS community, at the same time it also leaves many gamers from other mainstream genres feeling just a bit left out.

While there's obviously nothing wrong with real-time strategy games, and just about every PC gamer worth his or her salt knows at least a thing or two about the StarCraft series, but at the same time the appeal is just a little bit out of the reach of gamers who follow more traditional eSports competitions. This rings especially true when trying to follow the action, where the camera pans over the screen and the commentators have to give a brief explanation of what it is that viewers are looking at, otherwise it's almost next-to-nigh impossible to piece together a narrative of the event just by looking at the screen and seeing small blobs of 3D creatures repeatedly tearing into each other at an indiscernible pace.

Nevertheless, the excitement is probably what Red Bull is going for – trying to capture the feeling of the amped up experiences that come along with high-end competitive gaming and the thrill of being in the midst of two great digital athletes exercising their brain muscles to outwit and outmatch their opponent with a pixel army of formidable grit.

What's more is that despite the isolated gaming segments having little or no narrative worth following, the addition of the crowd's excitement, the commentators' notes and the slick editing, even those unfamiliar with the RTS genre will at least grasp a modicum of understanding to what just transpired and perhaps garner a necessary spark in the lower intestines to learn, watch and experience more. This is at least a step in the right direction for the audience.

If by some means the content above has enticed or enthralled you with even an infinitesimal amount of interest, then maybe watching some StarCraft walkthroughs or live-stream gameplay might be the next best step in understanding what all the hoopla is about.